Aeroplane



Sept 8, 1925.

D. SMITH I AEROPLANE 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 18. 1 920INVENTORY my Sept 8, 1925. 4 1,552,513

. D. SMITH AEROPLANE Original Filed 18. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

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' Patented Sept. 8, 1925.

UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE."

DEAN SMITH, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOB, BY-MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOTHEOPHILE DE PORT, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

AEROPLANE.

Application filed December 18, 1920, Serial No. 481,725. Renewed July20, 1925.

. To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DEAN SMITH, a citizenof the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomeryand State of Ohio,

Improvements in Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification.

tion of parts so far as is feasible, with view to minimizing the numberof supply parts to be required and to enable ready substitution thereof.

The object of the invention is to simplify the structure as well as themeans and mode of operation of such aeroplanes, whereby they will notonly be cheapened in construction, but will be more efficient in use,stanch and safe in flight, having few parts and unlikely to get out ofrepair.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved form oftrussed wing structure employing struts as the truss elements, andminimlzing air resistance by eliminating so far as practical, the use ofbrace wires and other reinforcing means.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved form ofengine mounting and an improved type of rudder and elevator sections,interchangeable one with the other in relation with fixed stabilizerfins.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved form of landinggears.

With the above primary and other incidental objects in view as will morefully appear in the specification, the invention consists of thefeatures of construction, the parts and combinations thereof, and themode of operation or their equivalents as hereinafter described and setforth in the claims.

In the drawings, wherein is disclosed the preferred but not the onlyform of embodiment of the invention, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of theassembled aeroplane partly broken away to disclosethe engine mounting.Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the assembled plane. Fig. 3 is. a topplan view of the tail portion of the structure. Fig. a is a detailperspective view illustrating the relahave invented certain new anduseful tion of the trussing struts. Fig. 5 is a detail erspective viewof the engine mounting. ig. 6 is a detail view of the engine mount-111%0011118631011.

ike parts are indicated by similar acters of reference throughout theseveral views.

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The present invention contemplates the production of a small generalpurpose machine, which may be economically manufactured to be sold at apopular price, and maintained with minimum maintenance expense.

In the type of machine illustrated, 1 is the fuselage of the usualstream line design, having therein the cock pit 2 for the aviator.

The machine illustrated in the drawing is a biplane having the wings 3and 4 of equal extent and identical construction, and capable of beinginterchanged one forthe other.

These wings are supported and interconnect ed by vertical struts 5,spaced outwardly from the fuselage 1, and extending interme diate thewings 3 and 4 and diagonally disposed strut 6, connected to the upperwing adjacent to the upper end of the vertica struts 5, and extendingthence downwardly and inwardly and connected at their opposite ends tothe side of the fuselage 1. These struts are substantially N-shaped,comprising the parallel arms 7-7 and the diagonal arm 8. stance isdirected upwardly and forwardly, as is indicated particularly in Figs. 1and 4;. The struts 5 and 6 are of equal length and like design, and maybe interchanged and substituted one for the other. The constructionshown affords a diagonally trussed or braced structure in which eachelement is capable of transmitting, both tension and compressionstrains. Likewise, these elements are so arranged as to counteractoroifset the strain one upon the other to resist deflection and afford astable construction with out the necessity of brace or guv wires, whichare efiective in one direction only. The di- This diagonal arm 8 in eachinagonally disposed struts 6 brace the strucare provided three fixedlyattached triangular fin portions 9, 10 and 11. These fin portions have astabilizing eflect. each'of these stabilizer fins 9, 10 and 11 is asubstantially L-shaped section 12. The vertically disposed section 12carried by the ,svertical stabilizer fin 9 comprises the guiding rudder,while the like section 12 hinged to the oppositely disposed laterallyextending stabillzer fins 10 and. 11, comprise the elevator rudder. Therudder elements whether for guiding purposes or elevating purposes to bemounted upon the vertically disposed stabilizer fin 9 or upon the later-15 ally exposed stablizer fins 10 and 11, are of identical area andoutline,'and hence comprise but a single style ortype of member utilizedin multiple. and interchangeable in' its several locations. 7 v .Thisprevailing idea of duplication of interchangeable parts is likewiseapplied to the ailerons and to the motor mounting at the forward end ofthe fuselage. The motor is carried upon longitudinally disposed paral-.lel supporting bars 14, from which extend outwardly and both upwardlyand downwardly, diagonal brace members 15 and 16. Interposed between thebrace members 15 are struts 17. The supporting braces 15 and 16 bothconnect at their rearward ends with the upper and lower covers of thefuselage bulkhead 18, fromwhich extends downwardly and inwardlyadditional 'brace members 19 connecting with the inner ends of the sup-I porting bar 14. g The supporting bracket structure thus formed extendsequally above and below the supporting bars 14 and hence either side ofthe bracket may be turned upwardly enabling the bracket structure to be40 employed as either the right or left'side of the engine support Thebracket structure thus formed comprising the longitudinal supporting bar14 and its diagonal braces 15, 16 and 19 and interconnecting strut 17are detachably connected in pairs to the bulk head of the fuselage proecting forwardly therefrom. Being reversible and interchangeable as toright and left, a single type and design of supporting member will serve60 for "either side of the engine support and' hence involves merelyduplication.

The landing gear comprises the car 'ing wheels 22, located slightly inadvance o i the center of gravity of the structure and connected to thelower supporting wing by the vertical struts 23 and rearwardly andupwardly inclined strut 24, and further braced by the inwardly andupwardly inclined struts 25 extending to a fuselage 1 such landing gearparts belng interchangeable. The

landing Wheels are provided with the usual resilient shock absorbingcoils26.

At'the tail of the machine-there is provided a landing skid 27, pivotedat 28, and

having the resilient connection 29 against Hinged t0 the tension ofwhich the skid may yield when contacting with the ground in making alanding or in the event that it encounters an obstruction when takingofi. -The relation of the resilient connection to the pivotal point ofthe tail skid, affords increased efliciency and greater leverage thanhashereto fore been employed.

While for illustrative purposes the invention has been shown as embodiedin a biplane, it is to be understood that the improvements and featuresof construction heretofore pointed out are applicable also to a triplaneor machines of other multiplane type. A stream line strut as illustratedaffords less air resistance than a brace. wire of much smaller diameterthereby necessitating less power and increasing the speed of the flight.

From the above description it will be apparent that there is thusprovided a device of the character described possessing the particularfeatures/of advantage before enumerated as desirable, but whichobviously is susceptible of modificationin its form, proportions, detailconstruction and arrangement of parts without departing from theprinciple inyolved or sacrificing any of its advantages.

While in order to comply with the statute the invention has beendescribed in language more or less specific 'as to structural features,it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specificdetails shown, but that the means and construction herein disclosedcomprise but one of several modes of v putting the invention intoeffect, and the invention is therefore claimed in any of its forms ormodifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the appendedclaims.

Having thussdescribed my invention, I

claim: 1. In an aeroplane the combination with a fuselage, parallelspaced supporting wings and propelling and guiding means,of ver-'-tically disposed parallel struts interposed between the wings onopposite sides. of the fuselage, and additional struts equal in lengthto said vertical struts, inclined downwardly and inwardly with theirouter ends attached to the upper supporting wing and their lower'endsattached to the fuselage, the vertical and inclined struts beinginterchangeable one for the other.

2. In an aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, parallel spacedsupporting wings and pro elling and guiding means, of a plurality ofsupporting struts and a plurality of brace struts of equal length, thebrace struts being inclined in relation to the sup- 125.

porting strut intermediate the supporting wings to afford a trussedstructure, the struts comprising said trussing means beinginterchangeable one for another.

3. In an aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, parallel spacedsupporting wings and propelling and guiding means, a plurality ofsubstantally N shaped struts connecting the wings one with the other,and additional N shaped struts of equal extent and like designdiagonally disposed intermediate the first mentioned struts andinterchangeable therewith.

4. In an aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, parallel spacedsupporting Wings 7 and propelling and guiding meansfof a supportin trussfor said wings comprising a plurality of struts of equal length arrangedin substantially M shaped relation interposed between said wings, themembers of such truss being interchangeable one with another. Q

'5. In an aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, parallel spacedsupporting wings and propelhng and guiding means, of means inclineddownwardly .and rearwardly, said N shaped struts being arranged insubstantially vertical, spaced relation with additional N shaped strutsdivergently arranged intermediate said vertical N shaped struts toafford a trussing effect.

7. In an aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, parallel spacedsupporting wings and propelling and guiding means, of a plurality of Nshaped struts interposed between the wings,-the-diagonals of which areinclined downwardly and rearwardly, said N shaped struts bein arrangedin substantially vertical spaced relation with additional N shapedstruts divergent-1y arranged intermediate said vertical N shaped strutsto afford a trussing effect, all of said N shaped struts being of equalextent and like design and interchangeable one with another. I

- 8. In an aeroplane the combination'with a fuselage, a supporting.wing, guiding and propelling means including. a motor, of a motormounting com rising a pair of parallel support bars, an divergentlydisposed brace members extending equally above and below the supportingbars and interconnected therewith and with each other to form interchaneable sup orting brackets for the motor, to e detacha ly mounted on theforward portion of the fuselage structure.

9. In an aeroplane the combination with a fuselage, a supporting wing,guiding and propelling means including a motor, of a pair of separableinterchangeable trussed brackets for-the motor.

10. In an aeroplane the combination with a fuselage, a supporting Wing,guiding and propelling means including a motor, of a reversable trussedsupporting member for the motor. P

11. In an aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, a-supporting wing,guiding and propelling means including-a motor, of a reversable motorbracket to be detachably mounted upon'the aeroplane structure,comprising a motor rest and bracing and attachment members extendingequally in opposite directions therefrom enabling the bracket to beattached with either side up permost.

12. 111 3-11 aeroplane, the combination with a fuselage, a supportingwing, guiding and propelling means including a motor, of a pair ofsymmetrical supporting brackets for the motor capable of eing transposedand reversed and adapted for the engagement of the motor in eithiarposition of adjustment In testimony. whereof, I have hereunto set myhand this 11th day of October A. D. 1920.

DEAN SMITH.

